For those of you struggling with your children’s at homeschooling, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Acton Academy Pittsburg to bring you a guide of all the best online resources when it comes to homeschooling. As a result of the current global situation, many parents have to shift school into the home for the first time. These resources will alleviate the pressure, and provide you with support for elementary, middle, and high school.

Elementary School

Early Elementary: ABC Mouse-all elementary subjects that offer more than 850 lessons across ten levels. They offer a 30-day free trial, and then a subsequent monthly subscription includes up to 3 accounts in one subscription (so you can share the cost with two other families!).

• The Reading Curriculum Includes uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, phonics, rhyming words and word families, more than 450 books and beginning readers, sentence structure, parts of speech.
• The Math Curriculum Includes: recognizing and counting numbers 1–120, the base ten system, place value, addition and subtraction, names and attributes of 2D and 3D shapes, length, time, and money measurement.
• The Science and Social Studies Curriculum Includes the body and health, plants and animals, weather, climate, and the seasons, earth’s environments, maps, regions of the United States, the Solar System, matter and its properties.
• The Art & Colors Curriculum Includes primary and secondary colors, shades of colors, paint-by-number activities, number, and letter dot-to-dots.

Reading A-Z: is a website with thousands of downloadable, projectable, printable teacher materials, covering all the skills necessary for effective reading instruction. They offer a free trial, many free samples, and a subscription-based membership. The membership includes:

• Books and resources correlated to state and Common Core Standards
• Reading lessons, decodable books, reader’s theater scripts, reading worksheets and assessments
• Leveled readers spanned across 29 levels of difficulty
• Fluency passages to improve reading rate, accuracy, and expression
• Phonological awareness and phonics lessons, flashcards, worksheets
• Vocabulary books, graphic organizers, word sorts and other vocabulary resources

Khan Kids is a free online website for children ages 2-7, and covers all subjects. Their site is:

• Focused on the whole child: the program engages kids in core subjects like early literacy, reading, writing, language, and math while encouraging creativity and building social-emotional skills.
• Joyful: Five whimsical, charming characters—including narrator Kodi Bear—guide kids through activities and stories.
• Engaging: Original interactive activities, books, animated videos, games, and creative lessons captivate children’s attention.
• Developed by experts: Khan Academy Kids was developed in collaboration with learning experts at Stanford and aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and Common Core Standards.
• 100% Free: You’ll never see ads. You’ll never need a subscription.

IXL: offers a full curriculum for K-12 in math and English. All of their content is designed with clearly mapped building blocks that introduce new concepts at the right time in the perfect order, guiding students toward fluency in core subjects. Subscription is per student, but they offer a reduced rate for multiple students in the family. They offer:

• Comprehensive curriculum: with 4500 skills in maths and English, and fully aligned to the national curriculum, IXL has the content to support your teaching.
• Dynamic, adaptive learning: IXL helps students as they set their own pace toward fluency, with carefully scaffolded content generated at the right level of rigor for each learner.
• Captivating content: On IXL, learning is fun but focused. Their interactive content is inherently intriguing, igniting students’ innate curiosity—no gimmicks or distractions needed.

Newsela: is an online platform built by educators, parents, siblings, and friends who weren’t satisfied with the quality of the content that students are exposed to. Newslea is offering free access to their entire product suite for the rest of the 2019/2020 school year.

What sets them apart is content that is:

• Authentic: Newsela content comes from the real world, about people and topics students relate to. We start with the world’s best sources and carefully select only the material that is most representative, most engaging, and best for Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Accessible: their content is provided at 5 reading levels, so the differentiation is built-in. Teachers get everything they need to personalize lessons to each student’s skill level and drive classroom discussions without leaving anyone out of the conversation.
• Active: they publish 10 new texts every day across 20+ genres. Relevant and timely materials are always available. So the curriculum won’t get stale, and you can easily respond to changing instructional needs.
• Aligned: their always aligned to state standards, leading frameworks, and commonly used curricula to ensure instruction is both engaging and driving learning.

StoryBird– is a platform to cultivate writing skills and creativity. The website allows users of all ages to make visual stories in seconds using curated artwork from illustrators around the world. The site has a free trial, as well as free versions and paid versions available with more content and reporting. How it works:

• Boost your writing skills: Storybird’s writing curriculum offers 700+ lessons, quizzes, and writing prompts created by experienced educators and expert authors.
• Explore your creativity: choose from multiple writing formats, from comics to picture books to poetry to long-form. Start with a challenge for ready-made inspiration.
• Get inspired: 9 million writers in more than 100 countries around the world use Storybird to tell their stories. Read the best writers and get inspired.
• Publish your work: ready to share your words with the world? Submit your stories to get expert feedback from teachers, professional editors, and authors.

Middle School

IXL: offers a full curriculum for K-12 in math and English. All of their content is designed with clearly mapped building blocks that introduce new concepts at the right time in the perfect order, guiding students toward fluency in core subjects. Subscription is per student, but they offer a reduced rate for multiple students in the family. They offer:

• Comprehensive curriculum: with 4500 skills in maths and English, and fully aligned to the national curriculum, IXL has the content to support your teaching.
• Dynamic, adaptive learning: IXL helps students as they set their own pace toward fluency, with carefully scaffolded content generated at the right level of rigor for each learner.
• Captivating content: On IXL, learning is fun but focused. Their interactive content is inherently intriguing, igniting students’ innate curiosity—no gimmicks or distractions needed.

Khan Academy: offers math, language, arts, history, and test prep for ages 2-18. They have three portals for students, teachers, and parents– to the whole team can work together to support your children’s learning. Khan academy is a totally free online school that revolves around:

• Personalized learning: students practice at their own pace, first filling in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning.
• Trusted content: created by experts, Khan Academy’s library of trusted practice and lessons covers math, science, and more. It is always free for learners and teachers.
• Tools to empower teachers: with Khan Academy, teachers can identify gaps in their students’ understanding, tailor instruction, and meet the needs of every student.

No Red Ink: is a resource for students with hundreds of free writing and grammar exercises for grades 5-12. Their platform is built by teachers and used in classrooms across America. The premium online program is free for the rest of the school year, in light of the current closures of schools.

• Authentic Assessments: students can rearrange sentences, edit and mark up text, organize ideas into outlines, and manipulate multi-paragraph passages.
• Unlimited, Adaptive Practice: their engine differentiates instruction to meet each student’s needs and to support learners when they get stuck.
• Personalized, High-Interest Content: they generate every exercise from students’ favorite celebrities, friends, and interests, making the content fun and relevant.
• Actionable Data: Color-coded diagnostic data, growth reports, and grade books allow teachers and parents to track progress in real-time.

Newsela: is an online platform built by educators, parents, siblings, and friends who weren’t satisfied with the quality of the content that students are exposed to. Newslea is offering free access to their entire product suite for the rest of the 2019/2020 school year.

What sets them apart is content that is:

• Authentic: Newsela content comes from the real world, about people and topics students relate to. We start with the world’s best sources and carefully select only the material that is most representative, most engaging, and best for Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Accessible: their content is provided at 5 reading levels, so the differentiation is built-in. Teachers get everything they need to personalize lessons to each student’s skill level and drive classroom discussions without leaving anyone out of the conversation.
• Active: they publish 10 new texts every day across 20+ genres. Relevant and timely materials are always available. So the curriculum won’t get stale, and you can easily respond to changing instructional needs.
• Aligned: their always aligned to state standards, leading frameworks, and commonly used curricula to ensure instruction is both engaging and driving learning.

Read Theory: is a powerful educational tool that offers online reading activities for all ages and ability levels. Their custom web application adapts to students’ ability levels and presents them with thousands of skill-building exercises that suit their needs.

Read Theory fosters a dynamic classroom environment. Teachers can use the program to gain the freedom to provide more individualized instruction, and we provide detailed reports so teachers can track student progress using statistics, graphs, and charts. The entire website is entirely free.

StoryBird– is a platform to cultivate writing skills and creativity. The website allows users of all ages to make visual stories in seconds using curated artwork from illustrators around the world. The site has a free trial, as well as free versions and paid versions available with more content and reporting. How it works:

• Boost your writing skills: Storybird’s writing curriculum offers 700+ lessons, quizzes, and writing prompts created by experienced educators and expert authors.
• Explore your creativity: choose from multiple writing formats, from comics to picture books to poetry to long-form. Start with a challenge for ready-made inspiration.
• Get inspired: 9 million writers in more than 100 countries around the world use Storybird to tell their stories. Read the best writers and get inspired.
• Publish your work: ready to share your words with the world? Submit your stories to get expert feedback from teachers, professional editors, and authors.

High School

IXL: offers a full curriculum for K-12 in math and English. All of their content is designed with clearly mapped building blocks that introduce new concepts at the right time in the perfect order, guiding students toward fluency in core subjects. Subscription is per student, but they offer a reduced rate for multiple students in the family. They offer:

• Comprehensive curriculum: with 4500 skills in maths and English, and fully aligned to the national curriculum, IXL has the content to support your teaching.
• Dynamic, adaptive learning: IXL helps students as they set their own pace toward fluency, with carefully scaffolded content generated at the right level of rigor for each learner.
• Captivating content: On IXL, learning is fun but focused. Their interactive content is inherently intriguing, igniting students’ innate curiosity—no gimmicks or distractions needed.

Khan Academy: offers math, language, arts, history, and test prep for ages 2-18. They have three portals for students, teachers, and parents– to the whole team can work together to support your children’s learning. Khan academy is a totally free online school that revolves around:

• Personalized learning: students practice at their own pace, first filling in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning.
• Trusted content: created by experts, Khan Academy’s library of trusted practice and lessons covers math, science, and more. It is always free for learners and teachers.
• Tools to empower teachers: with Khan Academy, teachers can identify gaps in their students’ understanding, tailor instruction, and meet the needs of every student.

Reading Language Arts:

Newsela: is an online platform built by educators, parents, siblings, and friends who weren’t satisfied with the quality of the content that students are exposed to. Newslea is offering free access to their entire product suite for the rest of the 2019/2020 school year.

What sets them apart is content that is:

• Authentic: Newsela content comes from the real world, about people and topics students relate to. We start with the world’s best sources and carefully select only the material that is most representative, most engaging, and best for Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Accessible: their content is provided at 5 reading levels, so the differentiation is built-in. Teachers get everything they need to personalize lessons to each student’s skill level and drive classroom discussions without leaving anyone out of the conversation.
• Active: they publish 10 new texts every day across 20+ genres. Relevant and timely materials are always available. So the curriculum won’t get stale, and you can easily respond to changing instructional needs.
• Aligned: their always aligned to state standards, leading frameworks, and commonly used curricula to ensure instruction is both engaging and driving learning.

No Red Ink: is a resource for students with hundreds of free writing and grammar exercises for grades 5-12. Their platform is built by teachers and used in classrooms across America. The premium online program is free for the rest of the school year, in light of the current closures of schools.

• Authentic Assessments: students can rearrange sentences, edit and mark up text, organize ideas into outlines, and manipulate multi-paragraph passages.
• Unlimited, Adaptive Practice: their engine differentiates instruction to meet each student’s needs and to support learners when they get stuck.
• Personalized, High-Interest Content: they generate every exercise from students’ favorite celebrities, friends, and interests, making the content fun and relevant.
• Actionable Data: Color-coded diagnostic data, growth reports, and grade books allow teachers and parents to track progress in real-time.

StoryBird– is a platform to cultivate writing skills and creativity. The website allows users of all ages to make visual stories in seconds using curated artwork from illustrators around the world. The site has a free trial, as well as free versions and paid versions available with more content and reporting. How it works: